Consilient: the concurrence of multiple inductions drawn from different data sets.
Induction: the process of deriving general principles from particular facts or instances.
Concurrence: agreement.

Thursday, March 4, 2010

An Arrogant Certainty About One's Own Views

Rep - BallotProposition #4: Public Acknowledgement of GodThe use of the word "God", prayers, and the Ten Commandments should be allowed at public gatherings and public educational institutions, as well as be permitted on government buildings and property.YES NO

OK, I have been slacking - I said I would write about a couple conservative values I thought needed to be hashed out. So lets look at this one:

Emphasizing humility and open-mindedness instead of arrogant certainty about one's own views.

in light of last Tuesday's Texas Primary results. Only Republicans got to vote on this, and they passed it with 95% of the vote. Now this is one of those silly kind of questions that put one in a bind, kind of like the "do you still beat your wife" question a lawyer can ask. How does one say no to their God? Well 5% did, which means they are either atheists/agnostics or astute - fully aware of just how dicey forcing a whole lot of people to participate in their set of values can be.

That separation of church thing that was written into the constitution (God, there I go again evoking that silly document, which just like the Geneva Convention can be dismissed as "quaint") was done with a lot of thought. It was done primarily to stop a dominant group from forcing a particular dogma on others.

So when I am told that a conservative value is "open-mindedness instead of arrogant certainty about one's own views" and then I see that 95% of Republicans - which align themselves with conservatism want to force God on the rest, I am...shall we say...not buying it.

Now I take a Jeffersonian view of a person's belief in God: "But it does me no injury for my neighbor to say there are twenty gods or no God. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg."

But the real harm to this, the real fear of 95% not understanding the danger of what they want to unleash, is that orthodoxy only is satisfied with more orthodoxy. This kind of "feel good" stupidity detracts from real issues and instead emboldens those that are normally kept in the closest. It's not about not being allowed to say "God" or a prayer, or have your 10 commandments on public land, that's how they have framed it, that someone - "them" - are taking away your rights, your liberty, your God.

There is only one logical outcome when it builds momentum, and that will in one form or fassion lead to picking my pocket or breaking my leg. It is a slippery slope, and I fear that with the Tea Party folks, the Texas Republicans, and this new push to be more conservative than the other guy we are heading down it.

Bottom line is that this is not the America we want regardless of how much we love our God. It is not the America the founders envisioned for us and specifically outlined in the constitution that scores of men and woman have sworn to uphold and have died defending.

Ahhh Jeff you're worrying needlessly, its just about allowing us to say a prayer, I mean we make up the majority, us Christians, why should we go without - majority rules, right?